Few Americans, including the LGBT community, are aware that today a transgender employee is protected against being fired because of his or her status as a transgender person in all 50 states. Your Welcome. I was sending email after email and letter after letter to our government and transgender legal centers for years that the Civil Rights Act covers protections against discrimination for Gender Expression under a subsection of sex discrimination. They went a bit further stating the section on Sex discrimination also protects someone in transition. I expect I'll get no credit for shaking the monkey tree. These protections are based on recent rulings from federal courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which made it illegal to discriminate “because of sex.” Almost all public and private-sector employees and job applicants (at companies of 15 or more employees) are covered under Title VII. (This part, while true, isn't all of it.)"It may seem obvious that firing someone from their job “because of [his or her] sex” would include discrimination against transgender people, who are often fired when they transition from one sex to another or when they are outed for having transitioned previously." http://transgenderlawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/TitleVII-Report-Final012414.pdf #transgender #lgbtqI'm sorry if I sound bitter, but I guess I am. 3 years ago no one was thinking along the lines that I laid out. You have no idea how much shit I've taken from the transgender community, the lgbt, politicians and lawyers telling me they knew better than I did. Now they are using what I laid out as the proper strategy. I won't even get a thank you.

I was told today when I went to an appointment at the VA that the VA will be changing it's system to add both sex and gender to patient data to better help treat transgender patients. This is something that was discussed in a tele-conference, and in conversations prior to that tele-conference that I gave to NY state VA's in July of 2015. The reason this is important for patients is because clinical reminders were being missed for transgender patients who have more things during and after transition to check than if they were a patient listed as only either male or female sex. Example: For the transgender female during and after transition both breast exams (any age) and prostate exams (after 50) are needed for the health of the patient as well as perhaps other things. I'm not a Dr. so this is the best example I can give you. This information was given to me by my primary care and I can't confirm it beyond what she told me.

I know it's new for the LGB but you need to learn to be an Ally and not play victim over transgender issues. You don't always need to say LGBTQ out of habit. Gay marriage didn't pass because every gay person voted for it. The gay population isn't large enough to pass any legislation on it's own. It took allies of the gay cause. This is exactly the same. The reason you may be seen by cisgender people as a gay man and not a trans woman (for example) is because the LGB views everything through a lens of sexuality. Even that group has huge difficulty making the distinction because there has been so little willingness to learn. I'm just asking the LGB to take on the role of ally to resolve transgender issues just as others took on the role of ally to resolve issues around sexuality. If they care about resolving the issue they will do this. If not it simply shows they want to usurp the issue for their own purpose and care little for the transgender cause. #LGBTQ

A quote from my website: "I will accept no money for anything I do surrounding this topic." and I haven't, even though it's been offered several times. Too many have taken advantage of the pain and fear transgender people feel. Everything I do is out of pocket and everything I've created is given freely. That's why there are no advertisements on my site.

I need a huge favor. Please stop saying the HB2 thing is LGBTQ. The last I checked gay people weren't being banned from using the toilet. As a group we've gotten into a bad habit of spitting out the letters even if it doesn't pertain to all of them. This adds to confusion and makes it very difficult to teach. I could like guys, girls or puppets like anyone else. Sexuality isn't determined by gender but my need to pee is determined by my bladder. Why does this matter? It matters. Believe me.

People really need to stop this habit of calling everything LGBTQ when speaking of things that don't pertain to sexuality. If it's legislation that pertains to a person's sexuality call it LGB if you like. If it deals with something like Gender Identity call it transgender legislation and leave the rest of the letters out of it. You're simply feeding a confusion we don't need. #LGBTQ﻿ Spokes people for the LGBTQ need to learn their rhetoric has consequences. Stop using LGBTQ out of habit as if it's all the same.

The reason I never seek transgender groups is because my bedside manner sucks. Those groups are looking for support and commiseration. Which they need. I'm just not good at it. I can analyze and diagnose but my bedside manner sucks.

This is an open letter to the United States. What started the modern transgender movement here in the United States? Does anyone even know what the original motivation of transgender people to create change in our societal system was? If you were to look at the behavior of the LGBT and it’s allies being a transgender person and are old enough to remember I think the answer would be no. The motivation was an extension in the personal treatment of gender dysphoria. Legislation that would make treatment easier to get in the US so the legitimate options didn’t exist only outside the US. Legislation that would make it easier or even possible to change identification to match a person’s gender. Legislative protections against discrimination so we could hold a job, rent a house or apartment, receive services and the things that people take for granted but could legally be denied us. The rest room was an extension of that as well. All we were looking for was legal use in another area that would help alleviate the miss match (gender dysphoria). To me it seems that underlying motivation that started this is being ignored. Unfortunately it was never fully understood. The LGBT turned to lawyers to argue the cases. To argue the cases using cisgender definitions when speaking of a transgender need. It doesn’t take experiencing gender dysphoria. The one thing above all among transgender people that causes the highest suicide rate among that group. It does however require an understanding of it rather than just an acceptance that transgender people exist. The reason we know Gender, a persons mind, and Sex, their physical body, are two separate things in all people is because treatments for a transgender person that work to bring those two things into alignment would bring things out of alignment for a cisgender person. To argue in a court of law that sex and gender are the same things, as they have been historically used from the cisgender viewpoint, is to kick the legs out from under the arguments that treatments are necessary and not simply cosmetic. If sex and gender are the same then treatments for gender dysphoria are not needed and therefore do not need to be covered by insurance. So thank you for working so hard to try to destroy, unintentionally, the basis of what we seek to change. The LGBT and it’s allies are perusing this topic as if it’s the same as the topic of sexuality. They are using the same tactics. The only tactics you can use around the topic of sexuality. Acceptance. “Accept that it exists and get over it.” The topic of sexuality however is a single flag. Where the topic of transgender is a three legged stool, (Medication, Education and Legislation), that will only stand if all three legs are made strong. The treatment for sexuality is simply acceptance. The treatment for gender dysphoria crosses over distinctly, uniquely, into both the medical and mental health sectors. Name to me something else that in it’s treatment does that? You can’t, but once again the voice of transgender people are being silenced, as they always have been, and we are being told “Shut up. We got this.” As you take up the banners through your 501c’s believing your money makes up for your lack of understanding. The Illinois ruling that came down from the federal government under the Obama administration was an incorrect one. Sex and gender are not the same things so the 1972 Gender Equality Law that used the old cisgender definitions of sex and gender can’t in reality be used as a clothe to wipe clean every aspect of the transgender topic. It can be used as the legislation was intended which was equal participation. Momentum was felt after that ruling and it seemed everyone in the LGBT and ally community were eager to line up behind it. Everyone but those in the transgender community who know better but are never listened to. Victory has outweighed the need for the original motivation that started all of this. When I speak out in an effort to change your course I’m accused of my efforts being about just me. That if somehow my speaking out to correct a huge flaw in your course should be taken as a lack of support for the overall goals. The people who started shaking this monkey tree and getting things moving were not only seeing what would be beneficial to themselves but recognized that if fixed would be beneficial to those trying to navigate this very difficult path. Even though you are the larger group, I see this becoming about you and how the difficulties of others can be harnessed to benefit your organizations. I just wish you would stop and bare in mind why this was started and the goals we were trying to achieve. Erica Elizabeth Ravenwood #LGBTQ

This is an open letter to the United States. What started the modern transgender movement here in the United States? Does anyone even know what the original motivation of transgender people to create change in our societal system was? If you were to look at the behavior of the LGBT and it’s allies being a transgender person and are old enough to remember I think the answer would be no. The motivation was an extension in the personal treatment of gender dysphoria. Legislation that would make treatment easier to get in the US so the legitimate options didn’t exist only outside the US. Legislation that would make it easier or even possible to change identification to match a person’s gender. Legislative protections against discrimination so we could hold a job, rent a house or apartment, receive services and the things that people take for granted but could legally be denied us. The rest room was an extension of that as well. All we were looking for was legal use in another area that would help alleviate the miss match (gender dysphoria). To me it seems that underlying motivation that started this is being ignored. Unfortunately it was never fully understood. The LGBT turned to lawyers to argue the cases. To argue the cases using cisgender definitions when speaking of a transgender need. It doesn’t take experiencing gender dysphoria. The one thing above all among transgender people that causes the highest suicide rate among that group. It does however require an understanding of it rather than just an acceptance that transgender people exist. The reason we know Gender, a persons mind, and Sex, their physical body, are two separate things in all people is because treatments for a transgender person that work to bring those two things into alignment would bring things out of alignment for a cisgender person. To argue in a court of law that sex and gender are the same things, as they have been historically used from the cisgender viewpoint, is to kick the legs out from under the arguments that treatments are necessary and not simply cosmetic. If sex and gender are the same then treatments for gender dysphoria are not needed and therefore do not need to me covered by issuance. So thank you for working so hard to try to destroy, unintentionally, the basis of what we seek to change. The LGBT and it’s allies are perusing this topic as if it’s the same as the topic of sexuality. They are using the same tactics. The only tactics you can use around the topic of sexuality. Acceptance. “Accept that it exists and get over it.” The topic of sexuality however is a single flag. Were the topic of transgender is a three legged stool, (Medication, Education and Legislation), that will only stand if all three legs are made strong. The treatment for sexuality is simply acceptance. He treatment for gender dysphoria crosses over distinctly, uniquely, into both the medical and mental health sectors. Name to me something else that in it’s treatment does that? You can’t, but once again the voice of transgender people are being silenced, as they always have been, and we are being told “Shut up. We got this.” As you take up the banners through your 501c’s believing your money makes up for your lack of understanding. The Illinois ruling that came down from the federal government under the Obama administration was an incorrect one. Sex and gender are not the same things so the 1972 Gender Equality Law that was that used the old cisgender definitions of sex and gender can’t in reality be used as a clothe to wipe clean every aspect of the transgender topic. It can be used as the legislation was intended which was equal participation. Momentum was felt after that ruling and it seemed everyone in the LGBT and ally community were eager to line up behind it. Everyone but those in the transgender community who know better but are never listened to. Victory has outweighed the need for the original motivation that started all of this. When I speak out in an effort to change your course I’m accused of my efforts being about just me. That if somehow my speaking out to correct a huge flaw in your course should be taken as a lack of support for the overall goals. The people who started shaking this monkey tree and getting things moving were not only seeing what would be beneficial to themselves but recognized that if fixed would be beneficial to those trying to navigate this very difficult path. Even though you are the larger group, I see this becoming about you and how the difficulties of others can be harnessed to benefit your organizations. I just wish you would stop and bare in mind why this was started and the goals we were trying to achieve. Erica Elizabeth Ravenwood#LGBTQ